Automobile torpedo.



DAV/LS Au-romQmEJoRPEoo.. VRBLJSC-Amn HLD Nov. 2. 1915.

Patented .Fuly 81, 1917.

ill. il!

NNI. N www Patents Nos. 914371 and 96414?,

srarns CLIELAND DAVIS, OF THE UHITElD STATES NAVY, ASSIG-NOR T0 THE NATIONAL TOREEDO CUMENY, 0F PRTLAND, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

.AUTGM OEIL-.E TORPEDO.

iliagg?, [specification ot .application iled November To all rfv/'1.0m it' may concern:

Be it known that l, CLELAND DAVIS, of the United States Navy, a citizen of the United Sta-tes, residing at San Diego, in the county of San liego and State of California, have invented certain new and useful 'Improvements in Automobile Torpedoes; and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofv the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the seme.

nti'invention relates to :improvements in automobile torpedoes, and. is intended to provide a torpedo that will be ei'ective against the armored bottoms of War recognizing that the type of torpedoes generally would not he effective against the armored bottoms vessels, l applied :for and secured a U. S. Patent,- h'o. Qotil', granted duly l2, 1910 and entitled improvements in torpedoes, which .showed a gun mounted in 'the head of a torpedo; and later also applied for and secured U. S. granted March 2, 1909 and July l2, 1910, and entitled, respectively, Firing means tor torpedlhes and improvements in torpedoes.

The present uropean war demonstrated the that under water protection is required against terpedo atteclf, and the tendency is to cover the sides and lodges of vessels with armor plate which must necessarily be of more or less reduced thickness so as to avoid excessive weight. Against such armor plate the ordinary war head torpedo is more or less inellective, but a ccording to my patents aforesaid l provide a torpedo gun which discharges a projectile with sufficientl force to penetrate such reduced armor pr'i'itection on the under waterl portions or" vessels.

vy present invention is intended to provide anlimprovement on the patents aforesaid, in vwhich I use the air flask of the torpedo for the barrel o1 the gun, providing a buffer pla-te or piston in said air flask adapted to drive the projectile in front of the saine, and to cause thc projectile, when the propelling charge is tired, to pass through the front end of the air iask, through the nose of the torpedo and through the armor plate of the vessel being attacked.

My invention Will he understood by ref- Letters Patent. Patented July 3l, MM t.

2, 1915. Serial No. 59,259.

erence to the accompanying drawings, in Whichz- Figure l shows a sideelevation of a torpedo, partly in central longitudinal section, with the firing mechanism in the safety position;

Fig. 2' is a similar view, on a larger scale, voit the front end of the torpedo showing the firing mechanism in the` operative or cocked position ready to ignite the propelling charge when the torpedo strikes the target; and

Fig. 3 shows a section along the line lhS of Fig. l, and looking in the direction oi' the arrows.

A represents the nose of the torpedo commonly called the war head, and ordinarily filled `{vitli high explosive such gun cotton, but in the present instance this may bc left empty and be a inere'shell, adapted to provide stream lines for the nose ot the torpedo.

In rearpf the warhead just referred to is the air flask B, constructed in the usual way, but preferably ysonfiewhat elongated, if desired, and in th'e'rear portion C of the torpedo the propelling and steering mecha-y nism, not shown, are mounted.` As these form no part of my present invention, they will not be further described herein.

Near the base of the air flask I provide a cup-shaped piston l) which forms the forward end or" a chamber at the rear end of the air 4flask, in which the propelling charge E of suitable gun powder is placed. ln front of the piston D 'is the projectile F, having the usual charge of high explosive, and any suitable fuse The projectile is preferably centered in the air flask by one or more suitable spiders Gr, and the propelling charge E is ignited in any suitable vvay, as by means of the firing apparatus shown in my Patent No. 964,184, aforesaid slightly modified to suit altered conditions.

ln order to fire the shell at the proper moment, and in order to insure against its being fired accidentally, or at any other time than the proper moment, I provide the firing apparatus hereinafter described.

1 represents a suitable perforated lug or projection attached to or integral with the shell of the torpedo. This lug is provided with a suitable stuffing box 3, and through this lug and stuffing box passes the tiring rod 4 provided with a screw-thread 5, over which lits the sci reW-thireaded sleeve 6 pro ',vided at its outer end with agprop'eller 7. Said rod 4 reciprocates undef'the control of 'the outer spring 8, which rests against the head-B of the 'air flask and engages a set u/colljr' 9- on the rod 4, 'This rod 4 is provided with a collarflO: on the -in'side of said iask and passes through the airfgj'jlaskl and 'through one or more guides llidtgli'ched to tliespiders Gr. f When the sleeve-6 is screwed down to the end ofthe screw-thread 5, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and in dotted lines' in Fig. 2, the collar-'10 is jammed' against the inner surfaceV ofl the head B', .and the sleeve 6 is 5 jammed against A'the outer surface of the.

stuffing box 3, and the'rod 41 is firmly locked so that it' cannot be moved in either direc-y tion. When, however, thetorpedo is pro- 4jected or propelled through the water, the

such. a direction as.A to advance along the screw-thread- 5 and occupy the position vshown inf full. lines in Fig. 2, :when the shoulder 12, on the .interiorofsaid sleeve,

2 restsag'ainst the 'collar-"13 lon the outer end of said'screw-thread 5, lin which position vthe rplopellerand Spring 8 Wm tend to move tlie rod 4 forward and the collar 10 will pre- 'vent its `furtherforward movement. 44' Thus,when the parts are in the position ff'shown in full lines in Fig. 2,.the firing rod 4'is in such position that it cannot be moved j farther forward, but' can be-pressed back- .ward against the action of the''spring-S.

' Secured tothe piston Dis thering pin support 14, in .which is mounted the firing i pin 15 normally pressed forward by the spring 16, but held backward by the trigger 17. When therod is pushedback, 'as when o the torpedo strikesthe torpedo net or target,

this trigger istripped, the firing pin is releasedv andthe propelling charge E is igl nited, causing the piston D to fly forward as'thebarrel of the gun, and the 4front head of the air flask 4 will be readily penetrated 1 by the projectile as it ,is(propelled forward.

he rear head and the rear end of 'the air fla-sk may. be, if desired, increased in strength s'o -as to withstand the pressure of the propelling charge. It will obviously be immaterial whether the air iask bursts or not, after the projectile has -attainedthe proper velocity and direction, as 1t is a .55 necessary factor of the invention that the propeller 7 vwill cause the `sleeve 6 Ato turn .in

ask and through torpedo shallA be wrecked when the propelling charge is fired.

The inertia of the rapidly moving mass of torpedo, and the pressure of the water on the propeller blades, will in a large measure compensate for the backward kick ofthe propelling charge on the rear end of the torpedo and' will facilitate the Yforward movement of the piston D and the projectile in front of same. j

I have shown the projectile centered in the body of the' torpedo by means of suitable jspiders whichv would not-only serve to insure the balance Aof weight and the symmetrical arrangement of the parts, but would also serve to hold the axis of vthe shell'in the proper direction until suiicient velocity had been imparted to the same to keep it going in the proper direction.

In practice, I prefer to have the shell pass .through "the spiders, but if desired the spiders- 'may be fast tothe shell and move therewith until forced off by engagement' with the head B of the air flask. The'base of the shell may also be temporarily attached to the piston D if desired.

Under certain conditions it mi` ht be feasi 'ble'to have the projectile of the same diameter as the interior shell of the, air i:`lask,.inl` which case no piston D would be necessary', 95 but in view of the great weight in such a projectile it would ordinarily be preferable' to have the projectile of materially less diameter than the afi'r flask, in which case it would be necessary to have'a piston ofsome kind 100 interposed between the projectile andthe propelling charge.

By the herein described'arrangementl the weight of the explosive material ordinarily carriedy in the vwar-headis dispensed` with, and' the center 'of weight is brought morel nearly to the center of the torpedo, improving the balance of the torpedoW/By. usingr` lthe air flask as a gun barrel the weight of 'the metal barrel shown in my prior patentslao referred to is mainly dispensed with and the/ torpedo is able to carry a larger projectile,4 and, secondly, is able to ldelivera greater mass. of explosive into the vitals of the enemys ship. VV`115 It will be obvious that various modiiica- I xtions may be made in the herein described Y' construction, and inthe combination and arrangement of' vparts which could be usedl without departing from the spirit of my inventioi. "i,"

Having thus described my invention what I .claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In an automobile torpedo, the combi-125 nation with an air flask, of a projectile/5'1" mounted entirely within said aix-flask, ^and a propelling charge also mountefin said'air Hask and in rear of said projectile, with means for igniting said propelling charge.

y 2. ln an automobile torpedo, the Combination with an air flask provided with a cylindrical central portion, of a piston mounted in said air flask near the rear end thereof,I a. propelling charge mounted between said piston and the rear head of the air flask, a projectile mounted in front of said piston, and means operated by the movement o the torpedo for igniting said propelling charge.

3. In an automobile torpedo, he combination with an air flask provided with a cylindrical central portion, of a piston mounted in said air flask near the rear end thereof, a propelling charge mounted be tween said piston and the rear head of the air flask, a projectile mounted in front of said piston, means for centering the projeotile in said air flask, and means operated by the movement of the torpedo for igniting said propelling Charge.

4c. 'In an automobile torpedo, the combination with Closed air flask of aV projectile mounted inside said air flash, and a propelling Charge mounted in Said air flask in rear of s'aid projectile and adapted to propel same through the head of the air liask, and means operated by the movement of the torpedo Afor igniting said propelling charge.

5. ln an automobile torpedo, the combination with an air flask provided with a eylindrieal central portion, of a piston mounted in said air liask near the rear end thereof, a propelling charge mounted between VSaid piston and the rear head of the air flask,

a projef'tile mounted in front of said piston, and means operated by the movement of the torpedo for igniting said propelling charge, Said means comprising a spring-impressed firing pin, a trigger normally holding said ring pin in the Safety position, and a spring-impressed rod projecting through the nose of the torpedo and adapted to beoreed back to engage said trigger and release said firing pin when the torpedo reaches the target.

(5. In an automobile torpedo, the combination with an air flask provided with a o ylindrieal central portion, of a piston mounted in said air flask near the rear end ther-eet', a

Dro iellin.Cr charo'e mounted between said is- .n a: P

ton and the rear head of the air liaslr, a prt jectile mounted in front of said pislon, spiders for centering the projectile in said air llask, and means operated by the movement ot' the torpedo ior igniting said propelling charge, Said means comprising a spring impressed firing pin, a trigger norniallj," holding said tiring pin in the salety posi tion, and a spring-impressed rod projecting through the nose ort tne torpedo and adapted to be forced beek to engage said trigger and release said tiring pin when the torpedo reaches the target.

In teetimony whereof', l al'x my lignee ture,

CLELAND BAVS. 

